Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

4 Oct 2021

Greetings,
It's been a good week at the new job. Great boss who trusts his people and a good employer. Still getting processed in and I have new comers orientation this week. We shall see what this week brings.
Worked on a project for our church. They needed some wooden lantern decorations for a women's conference that's coming up. I made six 20" tall lanterns and six 16" tall lanterns based on their design and request. No finish required. I made them out of poplar.
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I also had a request to make a portable laptop desk for a lady who works from home. She likes really old wood and I had just the wood in my shop to make it from really old wood. The oldest wood in this project is about 150 years old.
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This week I prepare to make a queen sized bed out of White Ash for my #2 son. It's been in the plans for a while now and is time to get it started.

That's it for me, so what did YOU do this past week?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Mike King]

I finished the drawer case, drawer, turned knobs, and applied the first two coats (of three) finish to this bench:

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I designed and mostly constructed this bench in a workshop (Beyond the Bench: Exploring the Maloof Aesthetic) conducted by Larry White at Anderson Ranch. I told him the workshop was mistitled -- it should have been "Advanced Seminar in Sanding."

Mike

[Jim Becker]

'Glad your first week at the new gig went well, Dennis...I'm sure this week will be even better with the "newbie orientation"!

I more or less finished up the stairway project and only have some grout work on the tile in the foyer to complete this week. I did some landscaping work to get things more to our liking. And then I moved on to another "improvement" project. The backstory...I have all my lumber and materials in a rental storage unit a few miles from the new house. The idea was to just do that until I can get a building up given there's zero room for material storage in the "temporary shop". Four months in, the rental place raised the rate...60%. That combined with still not having the old property sold made it clear that I needed to provide for storage here on-property for my materials. So I opted for a 10x10 storage tent on a sealed deck in combination with space in the existing 10x16 shed. (The really good stuff will go in the building) The tent is actually the same size as the rental storage, so I have a net-gain in space once I'm organized. The decking is "floating" in that it's not permanent, sits on small concrete pads to keep any wood off the ground and is just "pinned" in place with some rebar stakes so it's not going to move. All the materials are reusable in the future when it comes down, too. So for the price of about three month's rental, I will no longer have the continuing cost and the material will be more convenient to access, too.

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Of course...I need to move the material here from the storage unit. That's three or four trailer loads. Fun... (not)

This week will see a little more landscaping work, moving material and who knows what else...but once I get the lumber back here, I have a couple of nightstands that need to be built and some other projects planned.

[Dennis Peacock]

it should have been "Advanced Seminar in Sanding."

Mike

LOL! I so get this statement!!!

[Jim Becker]

Mike, that bench is outstanding!

[Phil Mueller]

Very nice bench, Mike. I keep reminding myself even if it’s dozens of hours of sanding, it’s a lifetime or even generations of enjoyment. Well worth it in the end.

[Jacob Mac]

Like that bench, Mike.

I am building drawers, so I started milling the boards. I mill board stock in stages since my shop time is so limited. I find it best to sneak up to final thickness.

I also built a new crosscut sled. Still have some tweaking to do to get it as accurate as I would like.

[Paul F Franklin]

Dennis, glad to hear new job is going well so far, and you had a productive week in the shop too! Jim, clever short term solution to storage problem.

I finished up the plumbing in my kitchen, cut and installed blocking behind the cabinet locations on the last wall, ran the low voltage wiring for the under cabinet lighting, and did a bunch of little tasks to prepare for sheetrock, like adding nail plates where needed, foaming plate penetrations and around the window, etc. Passed rough inspection with no issues so tomorrow I start hanging sheetrock.

Saturday I cut the grass and hauled all the brush I cut a week or two ago out to the road for the city crew to come by and chip. Also re-baited all the mouse stations around the house and in the barn. As the nights turn colder the mice look for warmer apartments! I guess I waited a little too long to fill the ones in the barn, as one of the bait stations had a mouse nest inside it, apparently just to mock me! Also found a big nest under the tarp over the skid steer. Comes with living in the woods I guess.

I also made a couple of butt-boards to use where new sheetrock will meet old sheetrock on one wall. They work pretty well to pull in the butt ends just enough to make it easier to get a nice flat butt joint when there are no tapered edges. I could have bought them from my sheetrock supplier, but would have had to buy a case and only needed two, so I just made a couple.

[Bruce Wrenn]

With State Fair less than two weeks away, spent some time getting things ready. We furnish "ground support" for Campers on Mission's State Fair ministry. They minister to the actual fair workers. On Wednesday before fair opens, we host a BBQ for around 400. This week local chain store put Boston Butts on sale for $0.99 a pound, limit of two. Currently, not on sale, they are running around $2.99 a pound. Took several friends shopping, and was able to get the needed 180#. Saved us over $350. Sell by dates were either the day of BBQ, or later that week, so keeping them is no problem. Got extra fridge on back porch, set it to 33 degrees, and stored meat in there. Tied door shut with a rope to make sure it doesn't come open, causing meat to spoil. Built two new bases for outdoor sinks. Loaded out laundry building and washer / dryer, and delivered it. Dennis, congrats on the new job.